SAXTON B. LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
319 Route 87 Columbia, CT 06237
Phone: 860 228 0350 Fax: 860 228 1569 E-mail: staff@columbiactlibrary.org

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Speaking Volumes

Keeping you up-to-date on what's happening at your library. We invite you to join in the conversation!
MAY 14, 2010
Girls Like Us...

Back in February Su wrote a blog post where she mentioned how much she liked listening to the book Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon, and the Journey of a Generation, by Sheila Weller. Well, her post piqued my interest, so about a week ago I took home Girls Like Us. Now, I’m only about 2/3 of the way through, but I am loving this book!

                         

The three women’s stories are told chronologically and in alternating chapters. Although they all came from very different backgrounds, the three musicians lives intersect and intertwine many times through mutual friends and boyfriends (hello James Taylor!), as well as professionally at different venues. All three women struggle with the contrast between growing up in the 50’s and coming of age in the late 60s, as they stray from the ideals of their parents generation. Carol, Joni, and Carly all wrote songs shaped by the cultural and feminist revolution, and in turn those songs became part of the soundtrack of their generation.
 
Anyone remotely interested in music, the 60’s, or the women’s movement should give this book a try. I have always loved Joni Mitchell, but I never knew the origin of most of her songs, or who they were about! I was also shocked to read about all the hits songwriting team Carol and her first husband Gerry cranked out in the late 50’s early 60’s (Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow, Some Kind of Wonderful, Natural Woman, Chains….). Anyways, since I’ve started reading Girls Like Us, I keep finding myself spouting off facts about the three ladies, and telling my boyfriend the origins of some of their most famous songs.
 
Stop by the library to check out a CD by one of these ladies, or try one of my other favorite women singers:
 
 Cat Power, Erykah Badu, Feist...

           


St. Vincent, Ani Difranco, Jill Scott...

           


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